Setelah merasakan skill kelas barunya, Michael menonaktifkannya.
Meskipun ia masih meragukan kegunaannya bagi seorang necromancer, ia sudah menemukan beberapa penerapan yang ternyata sangat berguna.
Sebagai permulaan, Spirit Eyes memberikannya sesuatu yang tidak bisa diberikan oleh skill [Detect]: cara untuk mengukur kekuatan seseorang tanpa memicu batasan sistem. Berbeda dengan [Detect], yang semakin tidak bisa diandalkan saat menghadapi mereka yang berada lebih dari dua puluh level di atasnya, Spirit Eyes tidak bergantung pada angka atau batasan sistem.
Sebaliknya, kemampuan itu memperlihatkan padanya bagaimana esensi mengalir—kepadatan, gejolak, dan kemurnian mana atau tenaga hidup seseorang. Dari situ saja, ia bisa mendapatkan gambaran umum tentang kekuatan, kedisiplinan, dan tingkat bahaya.
Seseorang dengan aliran yang liar dan mengamuk mungkin adalah seorang berserker.
Mereka yang memiliki aliran mandek atau tidak menentu kemungkinan besar sedang terluka, tidak stabil, atau lemah.
Hal itu memang intuitif, tetapi seiring waktu dan latihan, Michael tahu hal tersebut bisa menjadi sifat kedua—indera keenam untuk mengukur ancaman.
Lalu ada peningkatan persepsi.
Dengan Spirit Eyes yang aktif, ia bisa mengenali benda-benda yang dipenuhi mana, bahkan benda-benda yang tersembunyi dari pandangan mata telanjang.
Di dunia di mana segala sesuatu bisa bersembunyi di tempat terbuka, kemampuan ini tidak lain adalah impian seorang pemburu harta karun.
Ia mengembuskan napas perlahan.
"Suatu hari nanti... ini bisa menjadi alat pengintai terbaikku," gumamnya. "Atau pelacak. Atau bahkan... detektor harta karun."
Semakin ia memikirkannya, semakin ia menyadari betapa kuatnya Spirit Eyes secara mengejutkan—bukan dalam pertarungan mentah, melainkan dalam kesadaran taktis.
Michael tersenyum tipis.
Ia kemudian beralih untuk memeriksa skill-skillnya yang lain.
Yang pertama adalah tiga skill yang ia peroleh sebelum naik ke Rank 2—skill yang bermanifestasi murni karena peningkatan statistik, dipicu oleh umpan balik yang ia terima dari para undead-nya yang mencapai Rank 2.
Skill-skill itu adalah: Bull Strength, Limit Break, dan Iron Skin.
Menariknya, ini adalah skill pertama yang ia peroleh murni dari pertumbuhan statistik fisik—tidak termasuk Intelligence, atribut utama yang menjadi fokus berat kelas dan rasnya.
Bull Strength, Limit Break, dan Iron Skin.
Masing-masing bermanifestasi dari pertumbuhan statistik fisik semata—masing-masing dari Strength, Agility, dan Constitution.
Bull Strength persis seperti namanya: kekuatan mentah yang luar biasa. Skill ini meningkatkan kekuatan fisik Michael secara keseluruhan sebesar 20%. Kemampuan itu tampak mirip dengan skill greater strength yang didapatkan Beginning sebagai seorang Goliath.
Limit Break berasal dari Agility-nya. Skill itu memungkinkannya untuk sementara menghancurkan batas gerakan normalnya, memberikan ledakan kecepatan atau refleks yang melampaui batas dasarnya sebesar 20% pada basic mastery.
Iron Skin, yang berasal dari Constitution, bersifat defensif. Skill ini mengeraskan tubuhnya untuk menyerap dan memantulkan damage. Skill itu tidak membuatnya menjadi kebal, tetapi meredam setidaknya 20% damage yang diterima dari serangan tumpul.
Ketiga skill tersebut sangat praktis dan secara nyata meningkatkan kemampuan bertempur Michael secara keseluruhan. Masing-masing menambahkan lapisan baru pada kekuatannya yang terus berkembang.
Setelah mencatatnya, ia mengalihkan perhatiannya ke tiga skill lain yang ia terima bersamaan dengan [Spirit Eyes] saat naik ke Rank 2—Mana Shield, Acid Bomb, dan Regeneration.
Mana Shield adalah yang paling sederhana untuk dipahami di antara ketiganya—tetapi itu tidak membuatnya menjadi kurang berharga.
[Skill: Mana Shield – Basic Mastery]
Menciptakan penghalang semi-transparan di sekitar pengguna, yang didukung langsung oleh mana. Menyerap damage yang masuk hingga 30% dari mana saat ini. Menonaktifkan diri saat mana habis atau ketika pengguna membatatkannya.
Michael mengujinya sebentar. Lapisan lembut dan tembus pandang berkilau di atas kulitnya seperti cangkang kedua.
"Ini adalah perisai yang kekuatannya hanya sebanding dengan kolam mana-ku," gumam Michael. "Tapi tidak apa-apa."
Dengan Intelligence yang melampaui 400, perisai itu seharusnya mampu menahan sebagian besar serangan langsung untuk sementara waktu—lebih dari cukup waktu untuk melakukan tindakan balasan atau mundur.
Perisai itu tidak kebal, tetapi memberikannya bantalan. Lapisan perlindungan yang bisa menghentikan hantaman fatal.
Ia menyeringai.
"Dan skill ini berskala."
Kemudian muncullah Acid Bomb.
[Skill: Acid Bomb – Basic Mastery]
Mengondensasikan mana korosif menjadi bola proyektil. Meledak saat benturan, melelehkan bahan organik maupun anorganik. Kekuatan korosi berskala dengan Intelligence.
Dan yang terakhir, skill yang sempat membuatnya berhenti sejenak.
Regeneration.
[Skill: Regeneration – Basic Mastery]
Secara pasif mempercepat penyembuhan tubuh fisik pengguna. Memulihkan luka-luka ringan dalam hitungan detik. Luka parah pulih lebih cepat berdasarkan Constitution dan mana.
Skill ini juga tidak mencolok.
Tetapi Michael menyukainya.
Ia merasa kombinasi Iron Skin dan Regeneration berarti ia sekarang bisa bertahan dari damage yang tadinya harus ia hindari sepenuhnya. Ia tidak perlu bertarung secara gegabah... tetapi ia mampu untuk bersikap berani.
Berani yang berbahaya.
Setelah memeriksa skill-skill yang baru diperolehnya, Michael mengalihkan perhatiannya pada status para undead miliknya yang baru saja berevolusi. Ia ingin memahami dasar dari kekuatan baru mereka sebelum kembali ke Aurora.
Tidak butuh waktu lama.
Selain lima undead Rank 3, ia juga menyadari segelintir undead lainnya yang telah mencapai level yang sama seperti Prince dan Gale sebelum evolusi mereka. Tentu saja, ini adalah undead yang secara pribadi telah ia bina dan ia curahkan usahanya—seperti Fade, Ghost, dan beberapa lainnya.
Dengan undead elit ini saja, pasukan Michael sudah sangat tangguh—dan itu belum menghitung beberapa puluh undead Rank 2 di awal Level 30.
Tidak ada keraguan lagi.
Ia jauh lebih kuat daripada beberapa jam yang lalu.
Dan mencapai Rank 2 juga berarti sesuatu yang lebih—hal itu menandai selesainya tujuan yang telah ia kejar selama hampir tiga bulan.
Berbicara tentang tujuan... ada dua hal yang sangat membuat Michael penasaran sekarang setelah ia resmi menjadi Awakener Rank 2.
Michael berdiri perlahan dan berjalan ke tengah ruangan.
Ia menutup matanya.
Kembali di Aurora, ia pernah melihat para kultivator ber-rank Master melayang ke udara. Momen itu terukir dalam ingatannya. Sejak saat itu, ia bertanya-tanya:
Apakah ia juga akan bisa melakukan hal itu?
Sekarang, sebagai seorang Awakener Rank 2, ia tidak bisa menahan diri untuk menguji teori tersebut.
Sejak kenaikan rank-nya, ia merasa... berbeda.
Seolah-olah mana di udara mengenalinya. Seolah-olah mana itu menyapu kulitnya—tidak hanya di sekelilingnya, tetapi bersama dirinya. Hampir seperti medan gaya yang merangkul seluruh tubuhnya.
Ia tidak sempat memeriksanya sampai sekarang.
Tetapi berdiri di sini, akhirnya terdiam... ia bisa merasakannya dengan jelas. Dengungan halus, tarikan—seperti benang tak kasat mata yang menghubungkan tubuhnya dengan atmosfer.
Michael mengembuskan napas perlahan, menenangkan napasnya. Kemudian, secara insting, ia memanfaatkan hubungan tersebut.
Tidak ada hal dramatis yang terjadi.
Hanya... tekanan.
Udara di sekitarnya terasa semakin berat—dan semakin ringan—pada saat bersamaan.
Ia membuka matanya. Berfokus. Dan kemudian, dengan dorongan mental yang sederhana, ia mendorong mana-nya keluar.
Sefraksi detik berlalu.
Dan kemudian kakinya terangkat dari tanah.
Tidak tinggi. Hanya beberapa inci. Tetapi kaki itu tidak menyentuh lantai.
(Teks terpotong di sini, menunggu lanjutan)...
After getting a feel for his new class skill, Michael deactivated it.
Although he still questioned its value to a necromancer, he had already discovered a few applications that were surprisingly useful.
For starters, Spirit Eyes granted him something the [Detect] skill could not: a way to gauge the strength of individuals without triggering a system limitation. Unlike [Detect], which became increasingly unreliable against those more than twenty levels above him, Spirit Eyes didn’t rely on numbers or system boundaries.
Instead, it showed him how essence flowed—the density, turbulence, and purity of someone’s mana or life force. From that alone, he could get a general sense of strength, discipline, and danger.
Someone with wild, raging currents might be a berserker.
Those with stagnant or erratic flows were likely injured, unstable, or weak.
It was intuitive, but with time and practice, Michael could tell it might become second nature—a sixth sense for gauging threat.
Then there was the perception boost.
With Spirit Eyes active, he could identify objects imbued with mana, even ones hidden to the naked eye.
In a world where things could hide in plain sight, this ability was nothing short of a treasure hunter’s dream.
He exhaled slowly.
"One day... this might become my best scouting tool," he muttered. "Or a tracker. Or even... a treasure detector."
The more he thought about it, the more he realized how deceptively powerful Spirit Eyes could become—not in raw combat, but in tactical awareness.
Michael smiled faintly.
He then moved on to check his other skills.
The first were the three he had gained before advancing to Rank 2—skills that had manifested purely due to stat increases, triggered by the feedback he received from his undead reaching Rank 2.
They were: Bull Strength, Limit Break, and Iron Skin.
Interestingly, these were the first skills he had obtained purely from physical stat growth—excluding Intelligence, the main attribute his class and race were heavily biased toward.
Bull Strength, Limit Break, and Iron Skin.
Each had manifested from physical stat growth alone—Strength, Agility, and Constitution, respectively.
Bull Strength was exactly what it sounded like: raw, overwhelming power. It enhanced Michael’s physical might by 20% overall. It looked similar to the greater strength skill Beginning got as a Goliath.
Limit Break came from his Agility. It allowed him to temporarily shatter his normal movement limits, granting a burst of explosive speed or reflex beyond his baseline by 20% at basic mastery.
Iron Skin, derived from Constitution, was defensive in nature. It hardened his body to absorb and deflect damage. It didn’t make him invincible, but it nullified at least 20% of the damage gotten from blunt attacks.
All three skills were practical and noticeably boosted Michael’s overall combat capability. Each one added a new layer to his already growing power.
After noting them down, he turned his attention to the other three skills he had received alongside [Spirit Eyes] upon advancing to Rank 2—Mana Shield, Acid Bomb, and Regeneration.
Mana Shield was the simplest of the three to understand—but that didn’t make it any less valuable.
[Skill: Mana Shield – Basic Mastery]
Creates a semi-transparent barrier around the user, fueled directly by mana. Absorbs incoming damage up to a 30% of current mana. Deactivates when mana runs out or when the user dismisses it.
Michael tested it briefly. A soft, translucent layer shimmered over his skin like a second shell.
"It’s a shield that’s only as strong as my mana pool," Michael murmured. "But that’s fine."
With over 400 Intelligence, the shield should hold up against most direct attacks for a while—more than enough time for countermeasures or retreat.
It wasn’t invincible, but it gave him a buffer. A layer of protection that could stop a fatal hit.
He grinned.
"And it scales."
Then came Acid Bomb.
[Skill: Acid Bomb – Basic Mastery]
Condenses corrosive mana into a projectile orb. Explodes on impact, melting organic and inorganic material alike. Corrosion power scales with Intelligence.
And lastly, the skill that had made him pause a bit.
Regeneration.
[Skill: Regeneration – Basic Mastery]
Passively accelerates healing of the user’s physical body. Restores minor injuries within seconds. Severe wounds recover faster based on Constitution and mana.
This one also wasn’t flashy.
But Michael liked it.
He felt the combination of Iron Skin and Regeneration meant he could now survive damage he once had to avoid entirely. He didn’t need to fight recklessly... but he could afford to be bold.
Dangerously bold.
After checking his newly gained skills, Michael turned his attention to the status of his recently evolved undead. He wanted a basic understanding of their new strength before returning to Aurora.
It didn’t take long.
Aside from the five Rank 3 undead, he also noticed a handful of others that had reached the same level Prince and Gale were at before their evolution. Naturally, these were the undead he had personally nurtured and invested effort into—like Fade, Ghost, and a few others.
With these elite undead alone, Michael’s army was already formidable— and that was without counting the several dozen Rank 2 undead in the early Level 30s.
There was no doubt about it.
He was significantly stronger than he had been just a few hours ago.
And reaching Rank 2 also meant something more—it marked the completion of a goal he had been chasing for nearly three months.
Speaking of goals... there were two things Michael was especially curious about now that he was officially a Rank 2 Awakener.
Michael stood up slowly and walked to the center of the room.
He closed his eyes.
Back in Aurora, he had once seen Master-Rank cultivators take flight. That moment had burned itself into his memory. Ever since then, he’d wondered:
Would he be able to do that, too?
Now, as a Rank 2 Awakener, he couldn’t help but test the theory.
Ever since his advancement, he had felt... different.
Like the mana in the air recognized him. Like it brushed against his skin—not just around him, but with him. Almost like a force field that embraced his entire body.
He hadn’t had time to examine it until now.
But standing here, finally still... he could feel it clearly. A subtle hum, a pull—like invisible threads connecting his body to the atmosphere.
Michael exhaled slowly, calming his breath. Then, instinctively, he drew upon that connection.
Nothing dramatic happened.
Just... pressure.
The air around him seemed to grow heavier—and lighter—at the same time.
He opened his eyes. Focused. And then, with a simple mental nudge, he pushed his mana outward.
A fraction of a second passed.
And then his feet lifted off the ground.
Not far. Just a few inches. But they weren’t touching the floor.
Michael’s eyes widened slightly.
"...No way."
He floated, completely still in the air.
It wasn’t flying yet. Not really. He wasn’t moving forward or upward. But he was suspended—his body no longer bound by gravity in the same way.
He focused again, gently willing the mana to lift him higher.
His body rose another half-meter before a slight strain began to pull at his mana reserves. It wasn’t that the cost was high—but maintaining control required constant focus.
Still...
Michael hovered there, arms relaxed at his sides, a faint grin tugging at his lips.
"So it really is possible," he muttered.
He had always assumed flight was some grand technique, reserved for wind users or spellcasters with special tools.
But now... here he was.
Hovering.
He gently lowered himself back to the ground, boots touching down with a faint tap.
The grin on his face lingered for a few more seconds before fading into a thoughtful frown.
That was the first thing he had been curious about. And it was real. Now, the second.
Michael sat cross-legged on the floor and closed his eyes again.
It was said that once an Awakener reached Rank 2, they gained the ability to overcome one of the biggest flaws in their existence—what many called The Empty Shell Problem . Until now, transferring one’s consciousness to their body in Aurora left their real body defenseless. Unresponsive. As good as dead.
He also suspected this was likely the reason Rank 2 was the requirement to even be admitted into an Awakener Academy.
Because only then did one finally gain the means to protect both lives.
And Michael had felt it—the moment he advanced.
A persistent tug in his consciousness.
It wasn’t hostile. Just... present.
A gentle, constant pull at the edges of his consciousness. Like a door left ajar. He hadn’t paid it much attention before, but now that he focused, it was impossible to ignore.
What was it?
*****
A/N: It’s the end of the month, and I want to sincerely thank everyone who’s been supporting this book. From the looks of it, we’ll finish this month in the Top 10 of the Golden Ticket rankings once again. And it’s all thanks to you.
As I mentioned before, if we do make the Top 10, I’ll be doing another mass release next month.
Thank you all so much for your continued support!
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